2024–2025 Season of Pandanet European Team Championship Starts

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A new season of the Pandanet European Team Championship (PGETC) started last month and round two of the online league was played on 12 November. The team of Poland is the leader so far: they won the first two rounds against Hungary and Sweden. Turkey is a newcomer in League A and so far lost two matches with a score of 1-3.

The top four teams in League A will qualify for the face-to-face final, which will take place at the European Go Congress in Warsaw next summer.

Below is a record of the game played on round two on the first board of the match between France and Germany.

 

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Andrii Kravets 2p Participates in 1st Nanyang Cup World Go Masters Tournament

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The Nanyang Cup World Go Masters Tournament is a new knockout international tournament for the strongest professional players in the world. North America, Europe, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia were invited to nominate one player each. The first four rounds were held on 2–6 November in Chengdu, China. The semi-finals and final will take place in Singapore in February and March.

The European representative, Andrii Kravets 2p, lost to Gu Zihao 9p in the first round. You can see the game record below.

 

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Lee Minjin 8p Wins 4th China Town Go Cup

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The 4th China Town Go Cup was held in Warsaw on 12–13 October and brought together 156 participants including six professional players and numerous top European amateurs. This makes it one of the biggest weekend tournaments in Europe.

Lee Minjin 8p was the winner, remaining undefeated after all five rounds. Two players followed with one defeat: Pavol Lisy 2p lost to Lee, while Andrii Kravets 2p lost to Pavol. Since Pavol had a higher SOS, he was the runner-up and Andrii came third.

For more information, see the following links:


Below is a record of the game played between Pavol Lisy and Lee Minjin on round four.

 

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Mateusz Surma 3p Wins Confucius Cup 2024 in Dublin

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Mateusz Surma plays Lukas Podpera in round 5. Photo by Tiberiu Gociu

The Confucius Cup took place in Dublin on 21–22 September, attracting 36 participants from 12 countries including several top European players.

After five rounds, three players had four points: Mateusz Surma 3p, Lukas Podpera 7d, and Cornel Burzo 7d. The first tie-breaker criterium was mutual game, so Mateusz claimed the Confucius Cup – he beat Lukas on round five. Lukas was the runner-up because he defeated Cornel on round four. Mateusz lost to his compatriot Koichiro Habu 5d on round two. You can see the tournament table in the EGD.

Below is the record of the game played between Mateusz and Lukas on round five.

 

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Li Ting 1p Wins European Women’s Championship

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Podium, from left to right: Manja Marz 4d, Li Ting 1p, and Olesia Malko 3d

The European Women’s Championship took place on 14–15 September in Bratislava and brought together 24 participants. The winner was Li Ting 1p, who remained undefeated and thus repeated her last year’s success. Manja Marz 4d and Olesia Malko 3d both lost one game out of five, but according to the tiebreakers Manja was the runner-up and Olesia finished third.

The tournament table is available in the EGD. Below is a record of the game between Li Ting 1p and Manja Marz 4d played on round three.

 

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Sinan Dzhepov 5d Wins European Student Championship

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The European Student Championship was held on 7-8 September in Novi Sad, Serbia. Traditionally the smallest of the European Championships, this competition brought together ten participants from Serbia, Bulgaria, and Czechia.

The winner was Sinan Dzhepov, 5d who remained undefeated in all five rounds. Leon Defer 3d lost only to the winner and thus was the runner-up, and Vuk Dusanic 1d finished third. Below is the record of the game played in round 4 between Sinan and Vuk.

 

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39th World Youth Go Championship in Vatra Dornei, Romania

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The 39th World Youth Go Championship (WYGC) was held on 25–29 August in Vatra Dornei, Romania. The main organiser, Catalin Taranu 5p, has already hosted here the 2022 European Go Congress, the 2018 European Professional Championship, and numerous annual Winter Go Festivals.

The event was split into two tournaments: U12 and U18. After four rounds, the top four participants in both age categories played out the semi-finals and finals.

Here are the U18 top four:

  1. Kim Tae Heon 6d (South Korea)
  2. Ma Changhao 1p (China)
  3. Chen Yu-Hao 1p (Chinese Taipei)
  4. Xu Xiaofan 4d (Singapore)



and the U12 top four:

  1. Zhang Yimiao 6d (China)
  2. Lin Hong-You 6d (Chinese Taipei)
  3. Park Tea Jun 5d (South Korea)
  4. Ryan Zhang 3d (UK)



The games were broadcast live and you can find the records here. Below is the record of the final game in the U12 age category.

 

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66th European Go Congress Concludes

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The 66th European Go Congress (EGC) was held on 26 July–10 August in Toulouse, France. As ever, numerous players from all around the world came to enjoy their favorite game.

The official events traditionally held at the EGC were the individual European Championship (EC) and the face-to-face finals of the Pandanet European Team Championship. Andrii Kravets 1p won the EC second year straight and the winner of the Team Championship was the team of the host country, France.

The Open European Championship was attended by an impressive number of participants: 869. The winner was Kim Jitae 8d, a guest from South Korea. As usual, the EGC hosted many other exciting events, such as the Weekend Tournament, Rapid, Pair, etc. There were several unique events such as the game between the former European Champion Benjamin Dréan-Guénaïzia 7d and SenseRobot operated by the AI, and the 2nd ISGS International Conference on Go Studies dedicated to AI’s impact on Go.

Next summer, the EGC will take place in Warsaw, Poland – the registration is already open on the EGC 2025 website.

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Andrii Kravets 1p Claims Second European Championship

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The European Championship was held on 28 July–4 August in Toulouse, France as a part of the 65th European Go Congress and brought together 32 European top players. As usual, the tournament mode was a double-elimination system until eight participants were selected for the play-offs.

The winner was Andrii Kravets 1p, who remained undefeated in all his games. This is Andrii’s second European Championship – he was also victorious at last year’s edition in Leipzig. You can see the final game that Andrii played against Thomas Debarre 7d below.

In the game for third place, Fredrik Blomback 7d beat Denis Karadaban 6d. For full results and game records, see the 2024 European Championship web page.

 

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France Wins Pandanet Go European Team Championship 2023–2024

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The 2024 European Go Congress in Toulouse has started and, as usual, one of the first tournaments to complete is the Pandanet Go European Team Championship. The four teams that qualified via the online stage battled in a round-robin on 26–27 July. Here is the final order:

  1. France
  2. Ukraine
  3. Czechia
  4. Poland



The French team won all their matches and thus claimed a well-deserved championship. It was their fifth title, following their success in 2015, 2019, 2020, and 2021.

Below is the game from round 3, played on the first board of the match between the champions and the runners-up. For more information, complete results, and game records, visit the web page on the Pandanet website.

 

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